Role
of Change Management in an Organization

Change
management plays an important role in any organization since the
task of managing change is not an easy one. When we say managing change
we mean to say that making changes in a planned and systemic fashion.
With reference to the IT projects we can say the change in the versions
of a project and managing these versions properly. Changes in the organization
or a project can be initiated from within the organization or externally.
For example a product that is popular among the customers may undergo
a change in design based on the triggering factor like a competitive
product from some other manufacturer. This is an example of external
factor that triggers a change within the organization. How the organization
responds to these changes is what that is more concerned. Managing these
changes come under change management. Reactive and proactive responses
to these changes are possible from an organization.

Change
management is done by many independent consultants who claim to
be experts in these areas. These consultants manage the changes for
their clients. They manage changes or help the client make the changes
or take up the task themselves to make the changes that must be made.
An area of change that needs attention is selected and certain models,
methods, techniques and tools are used for making these changes that
are necessary for the organization.

When there is a
process in an organization it is not an easy task to make changes to
this process immediately. Sometimes a single organization may have varied
business entities and changes in an entity may be reflected in another
entity. In such organizations changes are not so easy. There are different
types of organizations which have many branches across the world with
varied cultures. Implementing a change in such organizations is a task
by itself.

The change process
can be thought of a process which stops the current process, makes the
necessary changes to the current process and the run the new process.
It is easy said than implemented. Stopping a current process in some
industry is fatal for that organization. Hence it has to be done in
steps which have the minimal effect in the process. These changes can
not take place for a longer time in the organization since that may
also be a disaster for the organization. The involvement of the staff
concerned is also very important for the change process to be smooth.

The change process
could also be considered as a problem solving situation. The change
that is taking place could be the result of a problem that has occurred.
You should know that a problem is a situation that requires some action
to be taken positively to handle that situation. This positive action
is known as problem solving. The change process could be problem solving
for a particular situation. In this process there is a move from one
to state to another so that the problem gets solved. The change process
is leaving the current state and moving to the final state through some
structured organized process.

Managing the changes
in an organization requires a broad set of skills like political skills,
analytical skills, people skills, system skills, and business skills.
Having good analytical skills will make you a good change agent. You
should evaluate the financial and political impacts of the changes that
can take place. You should know that following a particular process
at that instant would fetch you immediate financial effects and start
that process so that the change process is noted by the management.
The workflow has to be changed in such a manner to reflect the financial
changes that are taking place. Operations and systems in the organization
should be reconfigured in such a manner that you get the desired financial
impact.

Hence change
management plays an important role in an organization. This allows
the organization to give a reactive or a proactive response to the changes
that happen internally or externally. Knowing the change management
and its process would help an organization and it s processes to be
stable.